This invention relates to apparatus and methods for moving workpieces through successive work stations for successive work operations.
A myriad of devices and methods have been proposed for transferring workpieces from one work station to the next in order to facilitate successive work or assembly operations on the workpiece. Such transfer devices and methods must operate to quickly and positively move the workpieces between work stations. In a typical multi-station work process, the time required to perform each work or assembly operation at each work station is largely a given that cannot be significantly reduced. If any reductions are to be achieved in the total time required to perform the total multi-station work process, that reduction must be accomplished by a reduction in the time required to transfer the workpieces between stations. And yet any increase in the speed at which the workpiece transfer is achieved must not be at the expense of any derogation in the quality of the overall work process. Specifically, any speedup in transfer time must not increase scrappage and must not detract in any way from the ability of the individual work devices at the individual work stations to efficiently perform their specific work or assembly operations.